As I mentioned previously I've been down with the flu. And like all inventive pets the Terrifying Trio of Bad Pets, Quicksilver, Squirrel the kitten, and yes, I'm currently dog sitting Tig the Basinji, (Pyewacket being the only animal currently in the Good Pet category), have been running amuck.
Therefore it was no real surprise that, this morning I struggled out of a decongestant haze, attempting to identify what the sound of splashing and the tink, tink of metal meant.
It meant dear readers that Quicksilver the African Grey Parrot was bathing in the cat's water bowl.
And Silver was in the full throes of bathing frenzy and having a darn good time!
A little tink, tink, tippey toe action before the next plunge.
Geez!
Ahhhhh...WHAT?
Note that Silver has "red eye" from the flash similar to what happens on occasion with human eyes. Dogs and Cats tend to go green.
Why the different colors? I've no idea. Any EYE folks out there?
I crawl out of bed to retrieve him but from the new angle....
I realize there is something different going on all together. I'm not the only observer. (Besides the fact that all the splashed water is going to turn the errant litter into congealed mud.)
Squirrel is biding his time...and I've currently run out of steam.
More to Come....
DB
This squirrel, a regular Mr. Chubby, demonstrates the most comfortable way to raid a bird feeder. Note the evolutionary advantage of the eye of this prey animal. He can see me with his back fully turned.
Just in from the wonderfully curious and always questing Robin of Illinois- One of my earliest and longest running questions in life, why my fingers wrinkled in the bath tub--a possible answer that makes perfect sense..http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20951232
(My apologies have been down with the flu.)
More to come.
DB
Photo courtesy of www.palemale.com
Happy New Year from Pale Male, who has once started his renovations on the 927 Fifth Avenue nest for the upcoming season!
Happy New Year from Doorstep Dove...
Friend...
And the rest of the extended family!
At 2:08 this afternoon I looked out and saw Mourning Doves.
A rare sight for the past couple of months. And the two foraging in the feeding floor looked very like Doorstep and Friend. I bobbed my head and Doorstep bobbed hers. I was delighted and flooded with relief.
They were back!
They'd made it through the Wisconsin Mourning Dove hunting season, which ran from September 1st through November 9th this year, yet again!
The Wisconsin DNR website pertaining to Mourning Dove hunting season reports that the breeding population of Wisconsin Mourning Doves migrates out of Wisconsin as a flat fact.
Well most winters previous to the Dove hunting season that was started in Wisconsin a few winters ago, Doorstep and Friend were at the feeder on a daily basis.
Remember Doorstep got her name from snuggling up to the patio door during winter snow storms.
The DNR also says a fledgling Mourning Dove can do without her parent's care at less than a week off the nest. This is patently untrue.
Do these state employees ever watch these birds in any detail? Or are they just fabricating facts that are convenient?
After Mourning Dove hunting season was implemented in Wisconsin they have often disappeared for months during the Fall and Winter. Which is rather horrifying as one doesn't know if they've been shot or not while waiting out their absence.
Below is a little of what the Humane Society of the United States has to say about Mourning Dove Hunting, and more states join the macabre slaughter every year, 41 states and counting, of more than 20 million Mourning Doves--
"Mourning doves are the traditional bird of peace and a beloved backyard
songbird. But some people use mourning doves as live targets, sometimes
calling them "cheap skeet." Hunters kill more doves each year—more than
20 million—than any other animal in the country.
Doves are not overpopulated, and hunting them doesn't feed anyone or
help manage wildlife. Mourning doves—called the "farmer's friend"
because they eat weed seeds—pose no threat to crops, homes or anything
of value to people.
Many hunters don't bother to retrieve the dead or wounded birds.
American kestrels, sharp-shinned hawks, and other federally protected birds look like doves and can be shot by mistake.
Mourning doves nest during the fall hunting season, and hunting can
orphan chicks, who starve in the nest without their parents' care."
http://www.humanesociety.org/news/
Where Doorstep Dove, Friend and their extended family go, I don't know. But I hope they keep going there.
And my wish for the New Year is that
all the other Mourning Doves could find a safe place to go as well.
Shooting a Mourning Dove, a long lived bird who is our emblem of peace and nicknamed the "farmers friend" for their penchant for eating weed seeds, isn't "sport" it is savagery.
Donegal Browne
